My Name is Daala
by Anguirus111
Summary: AUA retelling of Admiral Daala's origins and actions in the Maw Installation.
1. I am Daala

Anguirus111 Note: You might be wondering why I'm rewriting Admiral Daala's character and her encounter with Han, Chewie, and Kyp in the Maw Installation. Quite frankly, I found the idea of a female admiral in the Imperial Navy very interesting as they were notably anti-female. However, I felt the idea that Kevin J. Anderson went about it was different than what I would've liked to see, where Daala worked hard to get where she was and didn't just sleep with Tarkin and get promoted. Also, I didn't like how she was so clueless as to what was happening in the rest of the galaxy as she blindly decided to stay in the Maw, she should've at least ventured out a few times to Kessel to get a heads up on the state of the galaxy. Simply put, her backstory and rank is going to be different, but the whole encounter with Han in the Maw while different will still occur after his mission to secure the Spice Mines of Kessel fails and he barely escapes with Chewie, and Kyp. The small details might not be 100 accurate with KJA's novels but who cares? The first part of this chapter occurs before Han goes on the mission to Kessel…

Coruscant: "So you want me to open diplomatic ties with Kessel? Is that such a good idea, what if I fail?" Han asked. "Then it's all for nothing?"

"Not exactly," said Wedge. The two of them were in Wedge's office where he was taking a brief reprieve from cleaning up Coruscant following its recent reacquisition into the New Republic after Emperor Palpatine's latest clone's death.

'What then?" Han asked. Wedge grabbed a dossier and tossed it onto Han's lap.

"We need you to investigate rumors of a legitimate pre-Endor appointed Imperial Vice-Admiral who is supposedly hanging around the Kessel area. We don't have any solid evidence, but rumor has it this Vice-Admiral pops up from time to time above Kessel and harasses Moruuth Doole, for what reasons we don't know, and then vanishes," said Wedge. Han briefly glanced through the file.

"A single Star Destroyer?" he asked after reading the rumors on what vessels this Vice-Admiral had. "That's not much of a threat."

"No," Wedge admitted. "But a Vice-Admiral is typically only a Vice-Admiral if they're very good at tactical combat. One Star Destroyer could be still be a threat in the right hands, Thrawn proved that more than anyone."

"So what's their name?" asked Han still going through the files.

"Daala," said Wedge simply.

"Daala?" asked Han. "So what's he like?"

"We don't know anything about him," said Wedge. "All the records pertaining to him were curiously purged from the system, all we got is a scrap of info saying that they trained at Carida," said Wedge.

"Assuming it's a he," said Han. "The file doesn't indicate gender."

"C'mon Han, no female ever achieved a rank higher than lieutenant save for Ysanne Isard, but how she got to be Intelligence Director and then leader of the Empire after Palpatine's death is anyone's guess."

"Yeah you're right," said Han getting up. "If I catch any wind of this person while on Kessel, I'll let you know."

"Thanks Han," said Wedge. "It's probably nothing after all, but you never know."

"Bye Wedge," said Han leaving.

"Later Han,"

Much Later: The damaged transport roared through the Maw Installation carrying Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Kyp Durron. Things hadn't gone particularly well in Han' negotiations after the Millenium Falcon had been fired upon and crashed into the planet only for Han and Chewie to be taken prisoner by Moruuth Doole who was still holding a grudge against him and Chewie for not being capture by the Empire for having spice. As slaves they'd met up with Kyp Durron, who'd been there since childhood and all three had miraculously escaped on a prison transport that was now badly damaged and flying amidst the blackholes of the Maw in a desperate attempt to get away. However, they now had no idea where they were going and thanks to a slight puncture in the hole, they were quickly loosing consciousness due to oxygen depravation.

"C'mon Kyp," said Han barely awake. "You can make it."

"I'm trying Han," said Kyp. "I'm-"

Kyp suddenly slumped onto the console unconscious next to the similarly unconscious Chewie when suddenly the transport roared past a pair of black holes and emerged into a massive area of empty space filled with a cluster of asteroids and a triangular shaped object in the distance.

"A star destroyer? What the hell," said Han before he too slumped into unconsciousness and awaited the death beyond.

Han's next memories were nothing of blurs of people rushing all over the place, him on a gurney, bright lights flashing, and murmured voices.

"How'd they make it through?" asked a voice.

"Luck," said another.

"Not luck, this one has Force potential,"

"Invasion?"  
"Unlikely, oxygen depravation,"

"Who are they?"

"Wait I know they're!"

Silence

The next thing Han knew he was opening his eyes to see a bright light above him.

"Hello," said a voice as a dark shape loomed over him. "Good to see you're awake?"

"Am I dead?" asked Han, fearful for how Leia and the kids would survive without him.

"No," said the object, which coalesced into a female doctor leaning over Han. "Nearly were when we finally got to you, but you're fine now."

"My friends," said Han struggling to get up before being forced down by the doctor.

"They're fine but still unconscious," said the doctor looking off to Han's right. Han leaned his head over to the side to see Chewie and Kyp attached to life support monitors that were rhythmically beeping.

"Thank you," said Han gratefully even though he had no idea who she was.

"It's my job," said the doctor simply. She scanned Han's heart rate through a handheld scanner before putting it away.

"Where are we?" asked Han as he looked off beyond Kyp and Chewie to a window portraying the darkness of space with the swirling black holes beyond.

"You're inside the Maw," said a new voice. Han turned his head to see the new voice, this one belonging to another woman, brown haired who seemed to radiate authority.

"And who're you?" asked Han. The woman shrugged disarmingly.

"Just a smuggler like you used to be," she said. "You are Han Solo of the New Republic correct?"

"Yeah," said Han nodding realizing it was futile to deny it. "And you would be?"

The woman walked over and leaned against the foot of his bed and looked at him.

"My name's Aeryl," the woman said.

"Aeryl?" Han prompted trying to find out her full name. The woman nodded.

"Aeryl Daala," she said. Han's eyes widened but quickly narrowed as he tried to not to tip her off to anything.

"What?" the woman demanded confused. Han shrugged, it'd be too late to deny it now.

"I came here to investigate rumors of an Imperial Vice-Admiral Daala operating in and around this area," said Han solemnly. "Are you that person?"

Aeryl leaned over Han's face with a dark look over her face. Han briefly gulped when suddenly the edges of her mouth began quivering and she burst out into laughter.

"An Imperial Vice-Admiral? Me?" she asked incredulously. "You must be joking the Empire doesn't promote women in their hierarchy to a position that high!"

Han nodded embarrassed as he too began laughing at his ridiculous statement.

"I haven't laughed this hard in a long time," said Aeryl wiping a tear from her face. "You are a joker Mr. Solo that much about your legend is true."

"I wouldn't call myself a legend," said Han sitting up while the doctor gave him some water. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Aren't we all," said Aeryl. "Aren't we all."  
"So you know nothing of this Vice-Admiral?" Han asked drinking the water.

"I wouldn't say that," Aeryl said thoughtfully.

"So you do know something," said Han. "What?"

"Do you promise not to tell your friends in the New Republic?" asked Aeryl.

"No," Han promised. Aeryl leaned back and rested her hands on the bed.

"Moruuth Doole is a pain in the ass, we both agree on that I hope?" asked Aeryl.

"No argument on my part," said Han. "He held me prisoner for the past few weeks and I'm itching to get back at him."

Aeryl nodded. "Anyway, I don't want him accidentally poking his nose around here so me and my smuggling group concocted a scheme where we dress up a member of our team in a Vice-Admiral's garb. Together with a Star Destroyer we 'acquired' we wheel him out to Kessel whenever Doole starts poking his nose around here and use him to warn off Doole. I was kind of hoping the NR wouldn't find out about it and decide to investigate it because then we'd really be screwed because then Doole would find out he's not real and we'd be up the creek," she said.

"You're secrets safe with me, I'll just say that it's still a possibility," said Han. "I can leave right?"

"Of course," said Aeryl nodding. "But we don't have any ships scheduled to leave right now so you'll have to stick around for now."

"That's fine," said Han. "I don't want to compromise your operations. I may be legit, but that still doesn't mean I don't appreciate the biz."

"That's good because I'd rather the NR didn't know about this place, it's pretty good for where it is. Locations good and so too is the defensiveness of all the black holes," said Aeryl.

"How'd you find it?" asked Han sleepily.

"I'm not to tell you everything," said Aeryl with a smile. "Now get some rest I'll show you around later."

Han nodded and laid back down on the bed before he was sound asleep. Aeryl looked at him saddened before leaving the room with the doctor.

"Imagine that, the hero of the rebellion right here in our fingertips! This could be our in to getting back into the war!" shouted the doctor.

"Yes," agreed Vice-Admiral Aeryl Daala all business now. "But we're not going to do anything about it."

"What?" demanded the doctor. "This is a perfect opportunity."

"If we harm him," said Daala as an aide came up and followed the two of them. "We're going to have the entire New Republic on our heads. Palpatine and Thrawn couldn't defeat them and I seriously doubt we'll have any better luck with a straightforward assault. However, there are other ways of winning and after I glean for all the information I can about the New Republic that Doole has no clue about, we're leaving this place. I want all stormtroopers and personnel to pack up everything and get it onto the Gorgon ASAP. Then I want all ships except for the Hydra to pull back out of visual range until called for."

"It's going to be hell trying to conceal the Gorkon," said the aide.

"We'll manage," said Daala. "Now move, you have your orders."

The group split up and Daala sighed and looked up as a massive shadow fell over the base.

"This is the life we chose," she said solemnly before walking off to direct her personnel.

Later: Han and Co. were sitting in the rest room outside of the hospital and were finally recovered from their injuries while working in the spice mines as well as the oxygen depravation.

"I can't believe we're still alive," said Kyp with a weak smile.

"Just lucky I guess," said Han. He looked out the window of the room to see a Star Destroyer hovering in the distance. Chewie growled something.

"Aeryl said that they'd 'acquired' one, I guess that's it," said Han.

"She's in remarkably good shape, she doesn't look like she's got a scratch on her," said Kyp. Han nodded.

"That is a bit strange, but then again the Errant Venture is lacking in score marks as well," said Han. Chewie laughed.

"So what if it's brick red, it's still true!" shouted Han.

"I trust we're all alright?" asked Aeryl suddenly appearing.

"Yeah we're fine, so what's up?" asked Han.

"Not a hell of a lot, we were just packing up some things for shipment out of here," said Aeryl as a Sentinel-Class landing transport roared out from underhand and headed for the Star Destroyer.

"For smugglers, you're not very conspicuous," said Han pointing at the thing. Aeryl laughed as she motioned for them to follow her down the hallway.

"It's a different world than when the Empire was around, nowadays more force is needed to do what's needed. The world's a lot more dangerous than when the Empire fell," said Aeryl. Han shrugged.

"Maybe," he said. "But for the most part it's for the best."

"The New Republic doesn't police things as well as the Empire did. On the one hand there's more freedom to get things were they need to be, but on the other hand scum like us are free to capture whatever we want from whoever we want with no repercussions," said Aeryl.

"Well we've been busy trying to repair things after Thrawn failed in trying to take over the galaxy and then Emperor Palpatine coming back right on his heels, Coruscant, Mon Calamari, Bilbringi, and a host of other areas have been heavily damaged and if not repaired could fall to the Empire at any moment," said Han.

"There's not really much of an Empire left is there?" Aeryl wondered. Han shrugged.

"I guess not," he said. "The inner rim is primarily controlled by various Imperial Warlords while the Outer Rim is rumored to have hidden Imperial Fortresses throughout, but there's no real proof of it. At any rate the Imperial are too busy fighting amongst themselves while trying to assert dominance in order to give us any real trouble. It's pretty much going to be peaceful from here on out."

"Yah," said Aeryl nonplussed about the current situation of the once glorious Empire.

"So what was this place?" asked Han. "I don't think you'd have had time to construct all this on your own."

Aeryl nodded as the aide joined them. "We found it by accident, better you don't know the circumstances. We investigated and discovered that this used to be a former Imperial Military Research Base where they were designing weapons like the Death Star," said Aeryl. "For reasons unknown, it was abandoned and we found it about five years ago right before the Battle of Endor and have been here ever since."

The aide grumbled something and Aeryl looked at him annoyed.

"You three keep walking, there's an observation area ahead, I'll catch up with you in a moment," said Aeryl.

"Fine, I still need a rest my body aches all over," said Han. The trio walked off down the hallway leaving Aeryl with her aide.

"He seems upset about something," said Kyp as they passed by other personnel who eyed them warily.

"Yeah they all do. But Aeryl does seem to be in charge around here," said Han. Chewie barked something.

"Yeah probably, but we all are hiding something at one time or another," said Han. "She's a smuggler, she doesn't want her base of operations."

"I get the impression that she's concealing a lot more than just a simple base," said Kyp.

"How so?" asked Han.

"It's a feeling I have," said Kyp ominously. "Like the feeling I got when piloting that ship through the Maw. She's hiding something, the only question is, what?"

"What the hell do you want?" Daala demanded. "You're blowing my cover!"

"You're blowing ours!" shouted the aide. "Telling them the truth, what are you thinking?"

"I am a Vice-Admiral in the Imperial Navy appointed by Emperor Palpatine himself, I know what I'm doing!" shouted Daala. "To cover up what this place was is pointless, concealing the Gorkon is hard enough and that can move! There is no way to conceivably cover up this base giving the time those sedatives we gave them would last. If they found out our cover would be blown and then what? We'd have to take them prisoner and quite I frankly I don't want to do that. Palpatine removed all the scientists, like that Qwi Xux and Tol Sivron from this base years ago along with whatever plans they had well before we even got here so it's not an issue. Besides, we're not going to be here much longer for the New Rep. to get a bead on us. Now get yourself to the Manticore and stay there!"

The aide growled and walked off. "This is what we get for having a woman in charge…"

Daala yanked out her comlink and flipped it on. "When my aide gets to the ship see that he is thrown in the brig for a few days to cool off."

Daala sighed, this was just the latest in a long of line of aides she'd had to let go for making a comment regarding how her gender shouldn't be in command of anything. It'd been uphill since day one when she'd first decided to join the Empire. She knew she wouldn't have had a chance, but she'd stuck with it. She'd created an alias on the computer network and had shown her strategic prowess time and time again. It wasn't long before she attracted the attention of superiors, which was her intent all along. Unfortunately, as great as it was to have netted the attention of Moff Tarkin, but his offering her advancements in turn for sexual favors had turned her off. She intended to get promoted based on her abilities as an officer, not a lover. She'd rejected his advances and he'd left swearing he'd ruin her career. For the next couple months she'd lived in fear until she'd heard the blissful news that the Rebels had destroyed the Death Star and taken Tarkin with it. She hadn't been happy about the loss of such a battlestation and the Rebels gaining strength, but having Tarkin gone was a huge weight off of her shoulders. Unfortunately, she was still stuck doing manual labor for another two years until finally, her efforts under her alias paid off when she attracted the attention of someone who valued her tactical prowess much more than her sexuality and like her he too was somewhat of an outcast among the other officers.

The man was none other than Vice-Admiral Thrawn who had only gotten where he was because he'd wiped out the Outbound Flight Project, something that any aspiring Jedi hating Sith could appreciate. When he'd been rediscovered by the Empire, Palpatine had instantly given him command of his own Star Destroyer and sent him on various missions in to the Unknown Regions. He'd recently gotten back and decided to test his skills against the students of Carida. He had annihilated all of them in the simulations without breaking a sweat, but Daala had managed to hold her own longer than the rest using decidedly unconventional tactics of ramming her ships straight into his. Nevertheless she'd lost and figured that was it but to her surprise she was wrong. According to rumor, when Thrawn finished the simulation he'd taken the roster of the entire base, flipped through it and when he'd come upon her photo he knew immediately it was her who'd been on the other end. Thrawn instantly went to her cabin and knocked on it. She'd answered it and found herself confronting the solemn gaze of the red eyed blue skinned Chiss.

"H-hello," she'd said.

"Greetings Cadet Daala," said Thrawn. "Please walk with me."

Daala swallowed nervously and followed him.

"Wh-what brings you here?" she asked.

"I think you know," said the alien. Daala sighed, knowing she probably shouldn't have tried to challenge a user with the name HandofThrawn but she couldn't resist a challenge. Now it looked like her entire career was in jeopardy if not her life, faking an ID on the network was something that just simply wasn't done.

"Yes I suppose I do," said Daala.

"How long have you been here cadet?" asked Thrawn.

"Three years," said Daala.

"And you've been stuck doing menial tasks the whole time?"

"Yes," said Daala sighing. "I don't like it, but there's not a lot I can do about it, it's just the system. One day though, I hope to be able to truly show to others how I can benefit the Empire."

"You realize that your talents might be better off with the Rebellion. At least there they would use you to your fullest," said Thrawn.

"The same would be true for you, the Empire isn't always fair to aliens," said Daala before realizing who she was talking to. "Sir!"

"That is quite alright feel free to talk informally cadet," said Thrawn as they advanced down another corridor.

"Sir if you don't mind my asking, why are you part of the Empire?" asked Daala.

"For the same reason I suspect you are, they're the rightful power in this galaxy. The Rebels are an illegal organization that has no plans for the future besides gaining power. Once they do, they will instantly fall apart to internal squabbling much the same way the Old Republic nearly fell to the Seperatists before it corrected its problems and became the Galactic Empire. To join the Rebellion would just be…wrong," said the Admiral. Daala nodded.

"Yes, it's more of a gut feeling more than anything else," agreed Daala. "But what does this have to do with me."

"I believe you have potential, potential that is being squandered on this base. As much as I'm sure the base will miss your above average mopping, there are better opportunities elsewhere for you," said Thrawn. They emerged onto the landing field where a Lambda Class shuttle was waiting on the field.

"What's going on?" asked Daala confused. Thrawn turned to her.

"I've been assigned to track down the rogue Grand Admiral Zaarin and I have transferred you to my fleet in order to assist me," said Thrawn.

"But I don't even have a rank," protested Daala.

"You do now," said Thrawn handing her a rank insignia. "Let's go Lieutenant Daala, we have work to do."

"Now?" asked Daala incredulously.

"Evil doesn't wait around lieutenant, it must dealt with now before it grows into something completely unmanageable," said Thrawn.

"And if it does become unmanageable?" asked Daala as she boarded the shuttle.

"Find a way to make it more manageable," said Thrawn. And with that the shuttle took off towards the future.

Present Day: "Make it more manageable," said Daala to herself. She nodded and proceeded to the observation dome to continue to learn all she could about the New Republic and make the daunting task of reviving the Empire…more manageable.


	2. Leaving the Maw, remembering the past

Over the next few days, Daala showed them all over the base and learned more and more about the current state of the Empire and the New Republic as well as continuing to show them nothing but hospitality.

Observation Deck, days later: "It's still quite a view," observed Han.

"Yeah I guess so," said Kyp. "But don't you find something odd about all this?"

"Such as?" Han asked.

"I barely managed to find my way through the Maw and that's because apparently I have some Force powers. Now do you seriously expect me to believe that they somehow managed to stumble their way here? No, it doesn't seem possible," said Kyp.

"They could've found out about it through Imperial files," said Han.

"But I've never even heard of this place! Doole would've had to have known something if this base was really in the hands of smugglers operating in this system! Why wouldn't they smuggle spice, why ward of Doole! That would be the only reason a base would exist here!" shouted Kyp. "And there's no way the Imps would've let slip about a base here having been a research facility for the Death Star, it's a major security risk."

"I suppose that does make sense," Han mused. Even Chewbacca rumbled an approval.

"Alright I'll look deeper into it," Han said starring out the window.

"I'd be careful," said Aeryl appearing. "When you stare into the abyss, sometimes the abyss stares right back."

"Something bothering you?" asked Han confused before realizing she though he was talking about staring into space.

"Yeah," admitted Aeryl. "Lack of information. Things have been changing so rapidly in the galaxy that we haven't been able to get a good bead on things. What is the state of the galaxy these days from someone close to the top of the power chain in the New Rep?"

"I wouldn't call myself near the top of the command chain. Just because Leia is second in command doesn't mean I know that much. But I guess I can try and answer any questions you might have," said Han. Chewie murmured something but before Han could respond, Aeryl shocked them all.

"He's right, you don't know who I am," said Aeryl. "But that's just the risk you're going to have to take when telling me this information."

"You know shriiwook?" asked Han.

"I know a lot of things," said Aeryl. "But in an attempt to prove I'm not your enemy, I'm admitting this upfront that I understand your wookie rather than have you find out later. I need your trust, I don't like deceptions."

"If you want our trust, we need yours," said Han. "Who are you?"

"I told you," said Aeryl. "I'm Aeryl Daala."

"Yeah but you're not a smuggler," said Han.

"And you've reached that decision how?" Aeryl asked.

"You don't carry yourself like a smuggler. Sure you're informal enough, but you just don't have the feel or look of a smuggler. Your lingo is just too perfect, no slang or anything like that just perfect grammar. The only place I've ever had to learn correct grammar was back when I was part of the Empire," said Han. "So either you're well educated or have been part of the Empire at some point or another."

"You're really reaching," said Aeryl.

"I never claimed to be an investigator," Han admitted. "I'm just trying to determine who you really are. But if that's not good enough, there's the fact that you know so much about this base. I was given a file on possible bases in this area for an Imperial Vice-Admiral to be operating out of…and there aren't any. Or at least not any that we know about so there's no way you could've hacked the information from Coruscant because it doesn't exist. The only way you could know about this place would be if high ranking Imperial officials told you about it and that would only happen if you were one yourself. This also conveniently explains how you have Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II in mint condition, if you were given it as part of a command fleet. The Rebels have never managed to capture an SD II without some scar marks on it and with you guys being 'smugglers' there's no way you could've ever pulled off enough profit to make it look like new again. Believe me, Booster Terrik has owned a regular ISD and he's never managed to get the thing back to factory standards no matter how much he's tried. Is this reaching? Maybe, but I doubt it."

"I guess my aide was right, just in the wrong way," said Aeryl. "Apparently the truth will set you free and get you caught in the process as well."

"So where is the real Vice-Admiral Daala then?" asked Han.

"I'm Vice-Admiral Daala," said Daala.

"Why bring up an old joke?" asked Han. "No woman would advance that far in Imperial ranks."

"No _ordinary_ woman would, but I persevered and I did. It wasn't easy but I managed. The Emperor promoted me just prior to what happened at Endor if I would agree to watch over this base for a few years with a complement of eight star destroyers. Rather than be stuck here knowing nothing about the outside the world every so often I ventured outside of the Maw to Kessel where I frightened Doole into giving me whatever information he had about the outside galaxy. It wasn't much, but I did learn about the Empire's fall from grace and the rise of the New Republic. Then last year his clone came back and stole half my command but rebuked my attempts to rejoin the Empire. Well I found about his crash as well, his two crashes, and now I've had enough. We're leaving and we're restructuring the Empire," said Daala. Several stormtroopers rushed in and aimed their weapons at the group.

"You know you're going to fail right?" asked Han. "Just being realistic here, but even if you capture us you're still not going to be any better off."

"I know," said Daala. "That's why I'm not going to incarcerate you."

The stormtroopers slung their rifles and stood at the ready.

"You're not?" asked Han incredulously. "This certainly is new I haven't experienced such hospitality from an Imperial ever."

"I also can't help but notice that if you or any other hero of the Rebellion is captured and injured by an Imperial, the whole of the New Republic descends on them with a fury. Regardless of the elitism that implies, Zsinj and Palpatine would be good examples of that line of reasoning. I don't intend to make the same mistake. I've been recording your presence here including the fact we saved you and your friends from near death. If you say differently, we'll show the footage to the entire galaxy and show you for the liars I hope you aren't," said Daala.

"So wait, that would imply you're returning us back to Coruscant," said Han. "Now I'm even more confused, why not just maroon us here?"

"I'm not a monster. Just because the Empire has been portrayed badly as of late doesn't mean that I don't hold to the original ideals that the Empire stood for," said Daala. "Preserving peace, upholding justice, I still hold true to those ideals that made the Empire the legitimate government for nearly twenty years."

"So what are you going to do to help revive the Empire?" asked Han genuinely curious.

"First things first, we're leaving here," said Daala pulling out a comlink. "All ships power up we're leaving."

Daala made a motion to leave.

"You coming?" she asked. Han crossed his arms.

"What if we want to stay?" he asked, testing her. Daala shrugged.

"Suit yourself, but you're never going to get a comm. signal out of here in a million years so this will become your permanent home. Believe me, even one month in this place can drive you nuts," she said. Han sighed and looked to the others.

"Alright we'll come," said Han. "As much as this pains me to say, you've shown us a large amount of hospitality."

"The line between friend and foe isn't always so clear cut," said Daala. "It makes life more interesting that way."

"Yes I suppose it does," said Han nodding. As he looked up, three star destroyers flew by overhead.

"So we're boarding the fourth then?" Han asked. Daala shook her head.

"Nope, the fifth," she said.

"Fifth? I thought you said Palpatine took half your command, that leaves four," said Kyp.

"I never said the Emperor didn't give me anything for compensation," said Daala. As she spoke, a massive shadow crept over the base.

"Oh sithspit," said Han wide-eyed. Above them was the massive shape of an Imperial Super Star Destroyer coasting overhead blacking out the whole of space.

"That's my flagship the Gorkon. Originally it was the name of my ISDII command ship, but I renamed that thing the Gorgon and this thing the Gorkon. She's the ultimate combination of beauty and raw firepower," said Daala.

"You do know that that thing could cause a lot of damage to the weakened state of the New Republic," said Han. Kyp and Chewie looked at him like he'd gone mad.

"Yes," agreed Daala as they all set off for the docking bay. "But ultimately any gains would be short lived and I'd rather not see the Republic with another SSD in their control to further use against the Empire."

"Another?" Han asked.

"Don't play coy with me I know you have the Lusankya," said Daala as they emerged into the bay. "Badly damaged sure, but still in one piece, taken from the idiot Isard."

"You are the most confusing Imperial I have ever met," said Han shaking his head. "You follow the Empire's rules and yet you chastise many high ranking Imperial officials. Hell you could practically be New Republic and that scares me."

"As I told you before, the line between good and evil isn't always so clear cut," said Daala as she boarded a Sentinel Class Lander with the group.

"So what do you plan on doing to help resurrect the Empire?" asked Han.

Daala sighed. "I don't know the exact details, but I plan on uniting all that's left of the Empire into one big unit. The factions will have to be dissolved and that can only mean killing all of the Imperial Warlords who won't surrender and leave. Then we'll rebuild the Empire to the best it can be and then live our lives in peace," said Daala until she noticed Han's questioning look. "I know what you're thinking, that I'm pulling the old bad guy cliché where I tell the good guys my plans in order for them to conveniently thwart it. Truth be told I'm telling you this for a reason, I don't want the New Republic's interference in all this. I swear I will not attack the Republic in any fashion whatsoever either when I'm trying to rebuild the Empire or after I'm done. If you leave us alone, I guarantee to leave you alone."

"How do we know you'll keep your word?" asked Kyp never willing to trust the Empire for anything after they betrayed his parents.

"I don't have anything else to give," said Daala helplessly. "But Mr. Solo here used to work for the Empire and I'm sure at some point in time he valued the sanctity of it. That's all I'm trying to do."

Daala sat there and sighed deeply. Han nodded.

"I always hoped to see a day when this war would finally end and I hope you're the answer Aeryl," he said. "I can't promise you anything from the New Republic's standpoint, but I guarantee that if you don't attack us we won't attack you."

"Han!" shouted Kyp. "How can you trust her? She's an Imp!"

"She hasn't given us any reason to doubt her and so far she hasn't fallen back on her word on anything yet. She's told us everything so far and it doesn't sound like a lie," Han argued.

"But she lied to us when we first came around!" shouted Kyp. Chewie murmured something at that.

"Chewie's right, she could easily have let us die or had us wake up in an Imperial interrogation chamber pumped full of drugs and giving us electric shocks, but she hasn't. I think we owe her some measure of respect," said Han.

"I don't believe this! After what they did to my family…" Kyp grumbled.

"If it's any consolation," said Daala. "I want to issue a public apology for whatever the Empire did to them."

Han, Kyp, and Chewie's jaws dropped at that as Daala started laughing at their expressions.

"That's about what I expected," she said. Han shook his head.

"Unbelievable," he said with a grin. Chewie moaned something while Kyp began crying.

"You no for years I've waited for an apology of the Empire for what they did to my family. But I never believed I would hear it and now that I have…I just…" Kyp's voice trailed off at that.

"It's never easy to hear an apology because it makes your fight seem like nothing. Believe me I know because my parents were killed by a terrorist bomb at a convention when they wanted to hear a speech by Senator Garm Bel Iblis. I still have no idea who killed them, and it'll continue to hurt me for as long as I live," said Daala sadly. "Your pain will probably never go away, but I hope you realize that not everyone in the Empire is evil."

"We'll see," said Kyp. "We'll see."

The lander landed in one of the many bays of the SSD and the quartet exited the ship and onto the gigantic bay.

"Never, ever in my life did I imagine I'd be on one of these things under good circumstances," said Han.

"Truth is stranger than fiction," said Daala shrugging. They entered into the turbolift and it took them upwards.

"Where're we going?" asked Han.

"The bridge," said Daala. More eyes bugging out. Daala laughed again.

"I'm surprised your crew doesn't mutiny over letting us roam free to secured areas of the ship," said Han. "How do you know we won't try anything."

"Go ahead, you'd be vaporized within moments because there's no way you could possibly take over an SSD on your own no matter how hard you tried. As for why the crew hasn't mutinied, I've explained to them that I'm a Vice-Admiral for a reason and then told them what would happen to use if we injured, tortured, or killed you. They may not entirely enjoy having a female in command, but there is logic to my decisions and they're just going to have to reluctantly accept that," said Daala. The turbolift ground to a halt and they emerged in a large hallway filled with personnel and down at the other end was the bridge with the hollowed out command pits on both sides and the forward windows showing the three Star Destroyers in front of them, presumably with the fourth covering the rear. Daala advanced to the walkway in between the pits and squatted down above one of the consoles on the right side.

"How long until we're out of here?" asked Daala.

"If it was just the Mark II's, forty minutes, but we have to be extra careful with this thing since it's much larger, three hours. Please don't ask me to get us there faster I'd rather not die in the process by being sucked into a black hole," said the navigator. Daala cracked a smile.

"Relax, all I'm going to say is best possible speed. I too don't have a death wish," she said.

"Thank you ma'am," said the navigator. "Now if you'll excuse me I have work to do."

"Yes I too have things to do," said Daala. "Keep up the good work."

The navigator looked up at her in shock. He like just about all the crew of the Gorkon only been under her command for less than a year and he was barely used to having a woman in command but to be contemplated threw him for such a loop he nearly drove the ship into a gravity well before pulling it out in time. He shook his head as Daala laughed again before escorting her guests out of the bridge.

"They're still not used to my mostly informal command structure," Daala explained. "But I trust they'll get used to it."

"Why compliment them, that's not standard Imperial procedure, you do your job well and that's all the thanks you need," said Han remembering his old days with the Navy.

"It's just something I learned from Grand Admiral Thrawn," said Daala.

"You knew Thrawn," said Han incredulously. Daala nodded.

"Yeah and from what I heard he gave you a real run for your money until that cowardly Noghri nearly killed him," said Daala. Han laughed.

"Maybe you didn't hear, he's dead," said Han. Daala shrugged.

"Somehow I doubt it," she said as they entered into her office. "Thrawn always had a backup plan. You may have killed his body, but he's still alive…somewhere."

"So how did you know him?" asked Han trying to change the subject.

"I served under him between the Battles of Hoth and Endor when we went to work getting rid of the mess left behind by Grand Admiral Zaarin," said Daala.

"So in what capacity did you serve him, and perhaps more importantly, how did you get to be Vice-Admiral?" asked Han. All of them sat down in her office as Daala propped her feet up on her desk.

"Thankfully both stories are in the same time frame. I was a lieutenant serving onboard the Iron Fist, a Victory Class Star Destroyer under the command of then Captain Zsinj now a giant mess all over the inside of the bridge of his other Iron Fist. Anyway, we were part of a five destroyer fleet under Thrawn's command and were finally in a position to corner Zaarin once and for all when I was forced to make a decision that would effect the rest of my life forever…"

Five star destroyers converged on a single heavily damaged Destroyer as Tie Defenders, Tie Interceptors, Tie Fighters, Tie Advanced, and a single Missile Boat surrounded the whole scene attacking each other and the destroyers.

"He's ours now!" shouted Zsinj maniacally. Lt. Daala groaned as once again his overzealousness was threatening to drive her and the crew insane again.

"Restrain yourself," said Thrawn calmly over the radio. "Don't be premature, celebrate after he is captured."

"Oh come on you stupid alien! There's nothing he can do now! Victory is ours!" shouted Zsinj.

"Not by a long shot," said Zaarin over the radio. Suddenly alarms began blaring all over the bridge.

"We have multiple targets emerging from hyperspace!" shouted Daala. Twenty Star Destroyers appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them.

"All ships pull out, we've lost this round," said Thrawn calmly. "Orderly retreat, all ships stick together, retrieve your fighters on the way that cannot hyper out of here and punch a hole out of here."

"Oh great! This is what we get for having an alien in command and a woman being second in command on my ship!" shouted Zsinj. "Melvar, it's time we did things right. We're leaving, good riddance to bad rubbish I say!"

Melvar nodded. "Get us out of here, straight to Coruscant. Let's report this once and for all."

"Didn't you listen to the Vice-Admiral, we're to engage in an orderly retreat!" Daala protested.

"Quiet woman!" shouted Zsinj. "You know nothing about doing the right thing! This alien is clearly trying to get us all killed and I won't stand for that! We're reporting him to the Emperor immediately!"

"You're making a mistake," said Thrawn over the radio.

"I think not blue boy!" shouted Zsinj. "We're outta here!"

Daala's eyes narrowed. "I don't think so."

"And what're you going to do to stop us?" taunted Melvar. "We're in command here, not you!"

"You're deserting and as such I am taking command of this ship," said Daala. She yanked out her blaster and stunned Zsinj and Melvar who slumped unconscious to the deck.

"I am assuming command of this vessel, we're going to draw the ship's fire and allow our comrades to escape. It may result in our deaths, but our loyalty is to the mission first and ourselves second," said Daala. "Move to intercept the lead ship. Thrawn, we're going to get these guys off you so you and the rest of the fleet can escape."

The Iron Fist roared off and began hammering the various ships in the enemy fleet.

"Gentlemen, target the hero," said Zaarin. "As much as it shames me to kill the only female lieutenant in the Empire, I have no choice but to kill you. You should be honored, very few people receive the directed wrath of a Grand Admiral and twenty Star Destroyers."

"There's just one thing," said Daala.

"What?" demanded Zaarin.

"You're no Grand Admiral," said Daala. "Not anymore."

Zaarin growled as the twenty destroyers encircled the smaller VSD and began hammering away at it.

"Well there go the shields," said the tactical officer nonplussed as the shield percentage began dropping at a steady rate from the bombardment. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as laser blasts ripped filled the darkness of space outside the window.

"All batteries continue firing," said Daala. The batteries on the VSD continued hammering on all the SD's causing little to no damage.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to channel all the laser battery power into the shields?" asked the tactical officer tapping his screen when the shields screen froze up indicating the shields were holding before it resumed its plummet.

"No," said Daala. "The fleet will be out of here before our shields fail so whatever damage we cause will prevent this fleet from chasing after them."

"Shields down to 32," said the tactical officer. Surprisingly, there was a feeling of calm on the bridge and not panic as they awaited their impending doom. A couple more minutes passed.

"Our fleet's gone, guess Zaarin is incredibly single minded," said Daala.

"Shields down to 5," said the tactical officer. "It can't be long now."

"No," agreed Daala. "It'd take a miracle to save us now."

"You don't need a miracle," said a voice over the radio. "You need a will…of Steele!"

Everyone' ears poked up as fifty missiles tore past the bridge and slammed into the Star Destroyer ahead of them blowing it up. A Missile Boat roared by overhead and went straight through the hole caused by it.

"Let's roll Lieutenant!" shouted Maarek Steele from the cockpit. Daala nodded.

"All engines full ahead!" shouted Daala. The ship rumbled forward as the shields failed and large chunks of the ship began being torn off into space.

"Hull down to 85!" shouted the tactical officer.

"Three minutes to hyperspace jump point!" shouted the navigator. The ship continued rumbling forward as more parts of it began ripping off.

"Hull breach, deck 17," said another officer.

"Close it off and get everyone into the interior of the ship," said Daala.

"Two minutes to jump coordinates," said the navigator.

"We're not going to make it, hull down to 50," said the tactical officer. "We're going to be spaced in a minute and a half. And as much as I hate to admit this, our corpses can't go into hyperspace."

"Fine we're blind jumping," said Daala sitting down in the captain's chair.

"What?" shouted the navigator along with everyone else. "Are you crazy! We'll be dead within minutes!"

"We don't know that," said Daala.

"Like hell we don't!" shouted the navigator. "There's never been a successful report of a blind jump ever being completed! The odds are…."

"I'm a Corellian," said Daala with a sly grin on her face. "The odds are for the mynocks. Prepare to jump."

"For how long exactly?" asked the navigator fearful.

"Two hours," said Daala.

"Two hours!" shouted the entire crew. "Blind jumps are supposed to be for seconds, not hours!"

"I said two hours, we'll make it," said Daala. "I don't want them picking us up on scanners when we're done."

"There isn't going to be left on the scanners to pick up," grumbled the navigator.

"Hull down to 15!" shouted the tactical officer.

"Jump!" shouted Daala. The navigator pulled down onto the lever and the ship roared off into hyperspace and the unknown.


	3. The birth of a leader

"A two hour blind jump?" asked Han incredulously. "Damn you are brave."

"It was more than that," said Daala. "I needed to prove once and for all that I was as brave as any man in the Imperial Navy and that luck was on my side. This jump would prove that and if it didn't, I wouldn't have to worry about being put down ever again."

Han, Kyp, and Chewie nodded having all been in situations where they had to prove their worth, even if it got them killed in the process.

"So what happened, clearly you survived or you wouldn't be here now," said Han genuinely interested in hearing the rest of the story.

"Yeah we survived…somehow. And it netted me the respect of the crew of the Iron Fist at any rate as they were fed up with Zsinj and Melvar anyway. There was still the issue of Melvar and Zsinj, so they were locked away in their rooms under house arrest and then we faced the important task of getting back home," said Daala.

"So what do we do now?" said the navigator as Zsinj and Melvar were dragged off the bridge. As for the bridge itself, it was filled with various damaged and destroyed consoles along with dark scars that were the result of the ensuing fire and explosions that had resulted when the ship punched into hyperspace amidst the laser fire.

"Standard Imperial Procedure would dictate that we fix the ship first and then help assist in the injured crew. But since we're alone out here with no way to contact the rest of the fleet, I'll pretend I forgot that little clause. I want everyone able and willing to help get this ship back into tip top shape. After all, Zaarin might still chase after us and I want us to be ready," said Daala.

"Ready?" asked the tactical officer, Krandall, looking at all that remained of their armaments.

"Ready to flee," said Daala with a grin. "What else did you think I meant?"

"Right," said the Krandall groaning. He then placed his head on his console and groaned as Daala laughed.

"We'll be fine don't worry about it," said Daala before proceeding over to the navigator's console and squatting on the catwalk above it. "Jimbo where the hell are we?"

"Unknown," said the navigator, Jjiim. "And don't call me Jimbo when we're on duty."

"Yeah well being formal is the least of our problems," Daala pointed out. "So can you tell me where we are?"

"The navicomputer was damaged during the attack, repair crews are working on it now. Local scanners are picking up a star system not to far from here that I suggest we heard for and it might provide us with some cover until we get things sorted out. The engines are more or less in one piece baring a visual examination so I think we could enter into the atmosphere of any of the planets and still have a reasonable chance of escaping intact. Hopefully it won't come to that, but we still have to keep our options open," said Jjiim.

"I hear that," said Daala. "Best possible speed to this system of yours. Is there anything we can get you to help you find out where we are?"

"I need charts," said Jjiim. "A navigator is not allowed to gain access to the cartography room unless let in by one of the senior staff, it's to prevent a stolen SD from going anywhere if the command staff has successfully sabotaged her hyperdrive. The room carries laminated paper charts of the galaxy and I need access to them and only you can make that happen seeing as Zsinj and Melvar have been imprisoned."

"Get us to that system and you've got a deal," said Aeryl. She then got up and walked over to the communications officer, Stracken.

"Fried right?" she asked.

"Yes," said Stacken leaning back and propping his feet up on the blank console. Daala stood up and sighed as her new second in command, Pell, walked up with a list of ship damage and personnel injuries.

"Can't say this is how I envisioned my first command," admitted Daala as she rifled through the reports.

"That's hardly my concern," said Pell.

"No I don't suppose it is," admitted Daala. "How soon before we're at full strength?"

"The ship needs six weeks in space dock just to be considered scrap!" Pell exclaimed.

"We don't have that much time, Zaarin is still out there, we'll make do for now," said Daala. "It looks like everything should still work and we still possess nearly 85 of our original turret complement. We're hardly defenseless."

"Considering a good portion of those cannons are damaged in one way or another, I'd say we have roughly 40 firing capacity at our disposal," balked Krandall. "Besides, have you looked outside? This ship looks like a triangular asteroid with all the craters in it!"

"It gives the ship character, now she'll stand out among the other less important Destroyers," Daala pointed out.

"Banter on an Imperial ship?" I never thought I'd see the day," said Pell shaking his head.

"Get used to it because I always intended to have a less rigid structure whenever I gained command. It might've had something to do with being fed up about the way things were done on Carida, I don't know, but regardless that's how things are going to be done around here," said Daala.

"The Grand Admirals will have your heads for this," said Pell. Daala shrugged.

"I seriously don't expect my command to last much longer than this. And besides, I'm a woman in command of a Star Destroyer who just overthrew two other male officers to assume command. Believe me when I say I'm in deep enough sithspit as it is and I intend to enjoy this as long as it lasts," said Daala. Silence descended as the other acknowledged this fact until it was broken by Jjiim.

"Now entering…wherever the hell we are," he said. Daala and the others looked up to see a system of planet directly in front of them.

"Any inhabitable?" asked Daala.

"Just one," said Jjiim trying to make sense of the scanner, which occasionally burst into static. "Looks like the fourth planet, has one moon barren. Although…"

"What?" demanded Daala. Jjiim shrugged.

"It doesn't look like the moon is entirely there," he said tapping the screen. "Probably just a glitch in the system I'll try and see if I can't get it fixed."

"Ship wide communications," said Daala.

"I'll give you the best I can, no idea if you'll reach everyone though because for some odd reason my scanner board is down. Hmm I wonder why? Oh yeah that's right, because someone thought this derelict could take on twenty star destroyers that's right! Silly me," said Stacken annoyed while still resting his feet on the console.

"Always the optimist huh?" asked Daala.

"Optimism and Imperial is an oxymoron," said Stracken.

"And I hope to one day change that," said Daala. "Sometime there will be a day when being in the Galactic Empire doesn't mean that people and aliens will have to fear you."

"The Tarkin Doctrine says differently," said Stracken.

"I also can't help but notice that Tarkin is dead," said Daala. "He died with that doctrine of his shoved down his own throat. Things will change for the better believe me."

"I'll believe it when I see it _Emperor_ Daala," Stracken retorted. Daala whirled at him.

"I have no complaints with the way the Emperor is running things. He brought order to chaos, but now rogue factions like Zaarin and the Rebel Alliance are bringing down that order and I don't want to see the Empire fade into obscurity," said Daala. She then picked up the comm. and spoke into.

"This is Lieutenant Aeryl Daala. I spoke to you briefly when we first entered hyperspace and told you that I had taken command of this ship from Zsinj and Melvar who were acting like deserters. Needless to say we're still alive and I hope that'll earn your trust, if not that's your problem. Anyway we've emerged from hyperspace and although at the moment we don't know where we are, we are currently heading for the nearest star system to hopefully get our bearings. Until then, get some rest and then check your duty rosters to see where you're assigned for repair duty. Daala out."

"Now approaching the planet," said Jjiim. Everyone snapped their attentions up to see the greenish looking planet and the moon hovering in front of it. As the ship got closer, they could see why the scanners had gone off. One third of the moon had been blasted away leaving a massive crater.

"The hell would do something like that?" asked Krandall.

"I don't know," said Daala.

"Scanners picking up intense levels of radiation surrounding the moon so clearly whatever happened to it was the result of some massive explosion on the surface of it," said Jjiim. "It must've been drawing ore from the surface of the moon itself and processed it there and then gone…poof."

"Can you extrapolate what it looked like?" asked Daala.

"I'll try," said Jjiim not sure he could do.

"Why don't I do it," said Krandall. "You need to focus on navigating the ship."

Jjiim nodded and transferred the data to Krandall's console. Then his console beeped again.

"This is even more ridiculous," he said aggravated.

"What?" demanded Pell.

"I'm picking up the remains of a Super Star Destroyer in orbit above the moon," said Jjiim incredulously.

"What the hell?" asked Stracken. "How is that possible?"

"Is the computer core online?" asked Daala. Stacken nodded.

"See if you can find any records pertaining to lost or damaged SSDs," said Daala. Stacken nodded and powered up his console. A couple minutes later his search was finished.

"There's nothing. There's only been one SSD destroyed by the Rebellion and that was back at Fondor. There is no record of any other ships lost or destroyed that were Executor Class," said Stacken. Daala grabbed a seat and sat down confused.

"This just doesn't make any sense," said Jjiim.

"Now what?" asked Daala.

"The radiation doesn't prescribe to any known types in the database," said Jjiim holding his head as he felt a headache coming on.

"This is just bad luck," said Stracken. "Way to go Lieutenant."

"How is this my fault?" demanded Daala. "I didn't choose to come here!"

"Yet here we are and you were in command," said Pell. Daala groaned.

"Maybe we should bring the chief scientist up here to figure out what it is," suggested Jjiim. Everyone groaned at that suggestion.

"I don't want that crackpot up here, let me get a look at it," said Daala sitting down at another console. The image lit up and she glanced it over.

"I think I've see this signature somewhere before, but I can't seem to recall exactly where," said Daala looking over the radiation signature.

"Emperor's Black Bones!" shouted Jjiim. Everyone looked at him incredulously.

"I'm not even going to ask," said Daala holding up her arms in defeat.

"I'm picking up the remains of an Imperial Landing platform and base as well as a Y-Wing and two speeders on the planet's surface," said Jjiim laying his head down on his console in defeat.

"Fine, put us into orbit we're going down there," said Daala getting up.

"Imperial Procedures dictates that the commanding officer is not…" began Pell.

"To hell with the procedures, we're going down there," said Daala leaving.

"Right," said Jjiim following her along with Krandall to the turbolift.

"Don't mutiny while I'm gone," said Daala with a mischievous grin. Pell rolled his eyes as the door closed.

"Working under a woman, this is…a nightmare," said Stracken looking over the crater on the moon. Pell shrugged.

"It's not that bad, it could be worse. I've worked with Zsinj for three years and I've never had any uncertainty as to where we were or what the future held for us. That was not fortune, it was his cowardice causing us to flee from everything. But now, now I don't know what our future holds and somehow it feels like I've gotten my life back," said Pell.

"Your clearly insane," said Stracken shaking his head. "I intend to report this directly to my superiors when this is all over."

"Suit yourself," said Pell walking off. "Suit yourself."

Down below, Daala, Stracken, and Jjiim were walking across the bay when they were greeted by someone they hadn't expected.

"Maarek Steele, what the hell are you doing here?" asked Daala as the pilot joined up with them.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go amongst all those destroyers so I hopped onboard at the last minute for a ride. Good thing too, not everyone can say they've gone on a two hour blind hyperspace leap. In the meantime, it gave me an opportunity to clean the carbon scoring off my Missile Boat and fill her up with missiles again. So where're you going?" asked Maarek.

"Down to the surface of the planet, we've detected the remains of an Imperial base and want to check it out. You want to tag along?" asked Daala. "We could use the escort services of the best pilot in the Imperial Navy."

"I guess," said Maarek. "Let me get to my ship."

Daala nodded and a few minutes later, a Sentinel Class Landing cruiser with a Missile Boat escort emerged from the bottom of the Iron Fist and roared off to the surface of the planet.

"The hell happened to the moon?" asked Maarek looking out of his viewpoint.

"The hell if I know," said Daala. "Stracken?"

"All I can tell you is that whatever it was a base of some kind and it had three legs that anchored it to the moon," said Stracken.

"Any correlation with anything in the database?" asked Daala.

"No," said Stracken annoyed. "There's dozens of bases that fit that configuration. I'll see if I can't figure out just how much wreckage there is and match the weight with any base on record."

"Good…keep up the good work," said Daala before shutting off the comm. "Ass."

"Now entering the atmosphere," said Jjiim at the cockpit.

"Let's get that Y-Wing first," said Daala. "If it's Rebel Alliance in nature, then Rebels may have infiltrated the base here and on the moon and destroyed both."

"Right," said Jjiim. The two vehicles rocketed over the massive forest and headed for the swamp. Soon they reached the vehicle that lay resting, apparently abandoned.

"Looks like it's been here at least a couple months and still is equipped with an R2 unit," said Krandall.

"Prepare to land," said Daala. Jjiim looked up at her.

"I'm not going to risk it because sensors indicate that swamp is full of mynocks. If we set down, we might not be taking off again anytime soon," said Jjiim.

"Alright that's cool," said Daala leaving.

"Where're you going?" asked Krandall. Daala walked past the ranks of stormtroopers waiting in the back of the ship. Daala grabbed a piece of rope and a winch and pressed a button causing a portion of the floor to retract showing the ground far below.

"What're you doing?" demanded Krandall before realization struck him. "No, you can't be serious! If you die then Zsinj would legally have to be put back in command! I don't want that to happen."

"It won't, trust me," said Daala with a grin. She the grabbed a hold of the rope and vanished through the hole. Krandall leaned over the hole and watched Daala hit the ground and pull out her blaster as she ran for the Y-Wing. Krandall laughed before detaching the rope and shut the hole before rejoining Jjiim back in the cockpit.

"I like her," said Jjiim pressing some buttons on his console.

"Yeah she's definitely something else, at least she is willing to go down the with crew unlike Zsinj who'd want us to go down while he ran off safe and sound," said Krandall strapping in. "Too bad she's never going to be commanding anything ever again, but if she did, no matter what it was, I _might_ consider serving under her."

"Yeah," said Jjiim. "Me too."

Down below, Daala had just reached the Y-Wing with the R2 unit looking at her confused. Daala examined the ships for Mynocks before trying to pop open the cockpit but it wouldn't budge.

"Okay let's just get something straight. Your Rebel counterpart abandoned you and this plane to rot and was never planning on coming back to you. Now if you join the Empire, I guarantee that won't happen to you ever again," said Daala. The R2 unit weighed its options, tootled, and the cockpit opened up.

"Power up, we're outta here," said Daala. The R2 unit beeped an affirmation and the ship took off into the sky and entered into formation with the Sentinel and the Missile Boat and all three took off for the Imperial Base.

"So what exactly were you doing here?" asked Daala. The R2 unit responded that it didn't know, its job was to ferry the pilot here and that was it.

"You're not holding out on me are you?" asked Daala. The R2 unit mentioned that since it had been abandoned it no longer held any loyalty to the Rebel Alliance.

"Works for me," said Daala and then after a few moments silence. "You have a name?"

The unit beeped that it didn't.

"Well your name's Depot now. Love it," said Daala. The R2 unit gave an affirmative beep and then the jungle broke away from them revealing the damaged base and landing platform in one massive charred crater.

"Looks like an Imperial Turbolaser blast," said Krandall.

"Yeah, so it was a cover up," said Jjiim.

"Not necessarily," said Daala. "Maybe the Rebels blew up whatever was on the moon, retreated here, and were vaped."

Depot tootled an 'I hope so' as the Y-Wing coasted by low over the wreckage.

"Hold up," said Daala as she slammed on the breaks.

"What?" asked Maarek as his fighter hovered over hers.

"I don't know," said Daala. "But it looks like there's an oddly shaped solar panel."

She activated the landing cycle and her Y-Wing landed on the ground while Maarek's and the Sentinel landed around the object in question. Stormtroopers filed out and took up a flanking position.

"The hell is it?" asked Daala looking down at the triangular shaped solar panel that was charred on the bottom.

"Check the data," began Jjiim before realizing the futility of it all.

"How much do you want to bet that this thing isn't in there?" asked Daala. The others nodded while Maarek looked over the wing.

"If I didn't know any better, and I do, I'd say this is the top wing panel to a V-38," he said. The mention of that starfighter sent Daala's brain into a flurry of activity.

"But V-38s aren't typically used by the Empire," said Jjiim.

"Yeah, and this wing panel looks nothing like a V-38s," said Krandall.

"It is if it's modified," said Daala.

"Huh?" the rest asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh just a little something Thrawn told me about regarding our protection of the Vorknyx Project and how it had a little offshoot called "The Phantom Tie Project" headed by Admiral Sarn and overseen by Darth Vader," said Daala.

"Let me guess, they tried to cloak a starfighter? What a riot!" said Stracken over the radio laughing along with Jjiim and Krandall.

"Well they pulled it off," said Maarek also knowing what Daala was referring to.

"You're joking, no ship that small can maintain a cloaking device!" said Jjiim.

"They extensively modified the entire starfighter leaving pretty much the tri-wing design the only thing the two had in common. Anyway, it worked but it required uridium ore that could only be found in the Belt of Arah. Too make a long story short, thanks to Rebel interference the mining facility was destroyed, and so was the base where they were built and the SSD Terror," said Daala before she came to a sudden realization and slapped her forehead. "All of this consequently explains all the wreckage and the unknown radiation which is the result of the cloaking fields in effect, guess that explains everything then."

"So where are we?" asked Jjiim.

"Imdaar Alpha. After the project failed, Sarn was killed and this base destroyed," said Daala.

"So what became of the V-38s? All gone then?" asked Krandall.

"The Rebels stole one which we subsequently blew up, but twelve still remained in perfect working order. The Emperor consequently had them all confiscated and stashed away somewhere," said Daala. Instantly their comm. systems came alive.

"Bad news, Zaarin's onto us. We've got two Star Destroyers inbound," said Pell. "Should we flee then?"

"Nope, we're staying and fighting," said Daala.

"You nuts?" shouted Stracken. "We only have 25 shields and we've just barely managed to seal up the hull. We're in no position to be fighting anyone!"

"Yeah well I'm the master of unconventional tactics and we're taking 'em out!" shouted Daala. "Let's role people!"

Present Day: "You're certainly more devoted than most Imperial I've met lately. Attacking two Star Destroyers with a Vic ain't my idea of courage, more like…suicide," said Han remembering a similar conversation with Luke, years ago back when things had seemed so uncertain at the time as to his future.

"_That's probably how Aeryl's feeling right now_," thought Han, realizing that they had more in common than he realized.

"So go on, again you clearly survived so how'd you do it?" Kyp asked, surprised at how interested he was with the story of an…Imperial.

"Well first we had to find a place to hide…" Daala began.

Imdaar Alpha: Two Star Destroyers hovered above the planet as they scanned the area.

"From the looks of things, she limped here and was pulled in by the planet's gravity well," said captain of the first destroyer.

"Well she was extremely lucky to say the least," said the captain of the second destroyer. "If she'd be even halfway off in her course or come out of warp just a minute later, she would've slammed into any number of planetoids. If there's ever been a situation of fortune favors the foolish, this would be it."

"Should we just report that the Iron Fist is destroyed and get out of here?" asked the first.

"I'm pretty sure Zaarin wants positive confirmation of its destruction rather than just an assumption," said the second captain. "What do the scanners say?"

"Unfortunately the spot where the ship went down is in a heavily cloud filled area and we can't seem to be able to penetrate it with our scanners," said a crewman.

"That shouldn't be possible," said the captain. "Sure we're a little stressed for supplies, but our scanners should be able to penetrate anything."

"Unless we're being jammed…" the sensor operative realized suddenly right before the alarms began blaring. "Oh, no."

Out of the cloud banks came the Iron Fist roaring straight at them cannons blazing. All cannons were aimed at a single destroyer and it fell to the concentrated firepower with the command tower being torn to shreds within moments. The Vic blazed by and arced around the moon and came straight at the second ISD which began pouring its weapons at the thing.

"Shields are failing," said Krandall. "So much for the hours spent getting them to a measly 34."

"You're going to kill us all," said Stracken.

"Hopefully," said Daala, not rising to the bait, as she sat in her command chair.

"As second in command, it is my job to inform you that you are currently acting very irresponsibly. You are placing the crew in danger with this current course of action," said Pell.

"So stop me," said Daala as the Star Destroyer began looming larger and larger in the front windows.

"Permission to go to an escape pod," said Stracken. Daala sighed.

"Fine," she said waving her hand to brush off the matter. "But if we survive, you'll effectively be a deserter and if we die…well I don't know how you're going to survive, but it's your choice."

"Live by the sword, die by the sword huh?" shouted Stracken. "Screw that! Let's go Pell."

"I think I'll stay," said Pell.

"What?" everyone said. Pell shrugged.

"I wanna see how this turns out," was all he said.

"Fine, screw you all!" shouted Stracken.

"How unprofessional," said Daala taunting him. "Go ahead and take my pod, you won't make it to any of the others in time."

"Thank you…Captain," said Stracken angrily before he ran off. A couple moments later, the pod flew off away from the ship.

"Fifteen seconds to impact," said Jjiim.

From his pod, Stracken watched as the two ships came closer and closer together.

"So long Daala," said Stracken with a grin. The two ships collided with one another, but to Stracken's surprise, they didn't both explode. The Iron Fist slammed on its engine full throttle and was actually succeeding in shoving the larger ISD towards the planet's surface.

"No!" shouted Stracken. The Iron Fist groaned, but it succeeded into pushing the vessel on a collision course with the planet's surface. The ship then opened fire point blank and blew off a chunk of the ship to get itself loose while the crippled ISD began firing vainly at the ship but was unable to bring its guns to bear.

"Damn," said Stracken angrily. His anger soon turned to joy however, when the engines suddenly cut out on the thing and it slowly began plunging into the atmosphere.

"Yes! I knew that maneuver would put too much of a strain on it! See you in hell Daala!" he shouted as a massive shadow fell on his pod. Straining to see, he noticed a new ISD appear right above him.

"_Oh well, one grave deserves another_," thought Stracken with a smile until he notice tractor beams fly out and latch onto the ship and slowly drag it out of the planet's gravity well.

"Damn it!" shouted Stracken to the heavens as the two ships slowly approached his pod, with the Vic still being dragged by the ISD. Stracken strained to see the two ships pass by in the pod viewport until right before they completely passed overhead, he watched in horror as a turbolaser aimed at his pod and fired, vaporizing it and him along with it.

Iron Fist: "Thanks of the assist Vice-Admiral," said Daala. Thrawn tilted his head in their direction.

"I don't abandon competent units," he said simply. "Although you appear to have done well enough on your own."

"If you mean those two ISDs, they weren't that much of a challenge," said Daala. "Speed is the answer and since speed is just a question of money, how fast can you go?"

"Quite," said Thrawn with one of his strange smiles. "Now where is Admiral Zsinj and General Melvar?"

Daala sighed. "Locked in their quarters for insubordination. They attempted to flee the battle and not follow your orders so I stepped in as per Imperial Doctrine J-34/77 and took command. We subsequently held off the traitorous forces of Zaarin long enough for you to escape and then we made our own escape and dealt with more traitorous forces until you arrived. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the brig for usurping command."

"Why?" asked Thrawn. "Everything you said is legally sound."

"Sure," said Daala. "But not socially. For a woman to usurp command is frowned upon. To have that women subsequently nearly destroy a Victory Class Star Destroyer in what could be classified as a suicidal course of action, then it will really be frowned upon. Imprisoning myself and begging for mercy is the only way for me to avoid a summary execution."

"Unfortunately, we will not be returning to Coruscant until this mission is complete. Until them, _you_ are in command of the Iron Fist," said Thrawn.

"And what about Zsinj and Melvar?" asked Daala.

"They looked a little stressed throughout this mission, some rest will do them good. We will transmit our navicomputer charts to your ship and inform you as to where we will go next…Captain Daala," said Thrawn. Daala nodded as the transmission shut off. Daala sighed and looked around her command. The bridge was littered with broken and damaged consoles and frazzled personnel desperately trying to keep the ship together and yet somehow it was exactly what she expected.

"Coordinates coming in, it looks like we're headed back to the Vorknyx Asteroid field," said Jjiim. "Engines are back online, we're hot."

"Let's go," said Daala. The ship launched into hyperspace.

Present Day: "Well I'd love to continue with my story," said Daala. "But we seem to have reached the end of the Maw. Let's go."

The four of them left her office and headed for the bridge.

"Now emerging from the Maw," said Jjiim at navigation.

"Once we're free, set course for Coruscant," said Daala.

"Bout time I heard an order like that," said Jjiim powering up the navicomputer. "I'm looking forward to seeing the capital again."

"Don't get your hopes up, we're just dropping and running," said Daala. "And you know as well as I do that it's once again controlled by the New Republic."

"Damn," said Jjiim still not wanting to accept that fact. The front windows showed the forward three star destroyers past the final pair of black holes.

"So much for the hard part," said Daala. And straight into a flurry of activity with dozens of fighters flying all over the place.

"Multiple targets dead ahead," said Krandall. "Looks like all of Doole's units."

"Then let him have it," said Daala. "We're leaving and I'm sick and tired of his meddling in our affairs."

The Super Star Destroyer began spitting fire everywhere.


	4. The great unknown future

"Uh, Luke?" asked Lando. He and Luke were currently in the Millenium Falcon that they'd managed to steal from Doole while looking for Han and Chewie who had gone missing. After that, Doole had sent all of this forces after them resulting in this situation where they were one ship against many and only through Luke's piloting skills and the Force were they still alive.

"What?" demanded Luke as he broke his concentration and looked up. "Oh."

Directly in front of the cockpit were three star destroyers emerging from the Maw.

"The hell do you think they came from?" Lando asked.

"I think we have bigger issues," said Luke as the sensor alarms began blaring indicating a massive object directly ahead. Lando and Luke watched in horror as a massive Super Star Destroyer emerged followed by a lone Destroyer.

"Holy sithspit!" shouted Lando shocked. Then all four vessels opened fire and began blasting everything in sight.

"Let's hope the Force is with you," said Lando shaking his head as Luke threw the Falcon into a dive avoiding the cannon fire.

"10 to 1 this is the Daala Wedge warned us about," said Luke as he narrowly avoided a pair of T-Wings which exploded flinging debris everywhere.

"That's a suckers bet," said Lando as he read the various screens of data rolling by him as the ship began rocking from side to side. "But from the looks of things Daala's taking this fleet apart with reckless abandon. Clearly Doole has pissed him off royally this time."

"To bring out a fleet this big I'd say Daala's ready to blow up Kessel," said Lando. "What a travesty; all that spice gone to waste!"

Suddenly the whole ship shuddered as it take a full on turbolaser blast.

"Shields down nearly 50!" shouted Lando.

"Quite shouting, we'll make it through this!" shouted Luke as a Marauder Corvette exploded right in front of them. Grimacing, Luke had no choice but to pilot the Falcon straight through the debris.

"I knew Doole wouldn't put up much of a fight," said Daala. "I should've done this years ago."

"The New Republic should've done it sooner," said Han bitterly with Kyp nodding in agreement. "Hard to believe it would take the Empire to get things done."

"The enemy of my enemy," began Daala.

"Is either my friend," began Han.

"Or my enemy," Kyp concluded.

"Hopefully we'll never have to face that second possibility," said Daala sighing. "Well we've just about had all the fun we can, prepare to head out."

"That's odd," said Krandall reading his screens.

"What?" asked Daala.

"One of the ships out there is answering to the name the Millenium Falcon," said Krandall. "I though that was your ship, Mr. Solo."

"It _was_ my ship," said Han bitterly. "But Moruuth Doole stole it from me and placed into his own private fleet."

"Well whoever's piloting it is doing a very good job," said Krandall. "He's evaded most of our turbolaser blasts, but one more should do it. Do you want us to concentrate our firepower and destroy your ship?"

"Yes," said Han bitterly but not without a hint of regret in his tone. Chewbacca howled out a loud bellow mourning the ship while Kyp just stood there.

"No," said Daala. "We won't.

"But," began Han. Daala swiveled in her chair to face him.

"This is an Imperial Executor-Class Star Destroyer, we are more than capable of capturing your ship and returning it its proper owner," said Daala.

"Thank you," said Han grateful.

"Now do you know where we can find Lando Calrissian?" asked Daala with a mischievous grin. Han shook his head as Chewbacca chuckled.

"Hopefully he's a long way away from here," said Han.

"Lock all tractor beams on that ship and haul it in here. Once that's done jump to Coruscant," said Daala.

"Roger that," Jjiim and Krandall said as Pell appeared and walked across the bridge.

"Let's go greet your ship," said Daala. "Pell the bridge is yours."

"Roger that," said Pell. "A contingent of stormtroopers will be waiting down in the bay for you."

With that, Daala, Han, Kyp, and Chewbacca entered into a turbolift and were whisked away.

"She's putting a lot of faith that they won't kill her," said Jjiim pressing some buttons on his panel as he finalized the jump coordinates.

"She's too smart for them," said Pell. "Every once in a while declare peace, it confuses the hell out your enemies. Line 1 of the unofficial Daala Doctrine."

"So it is, so it is," said Krandall leaning back in his chair.

"Uh-oh," said Lando as the ship suddenly lurched to a halt.

"They've got us alright," said Luke as he dropped the control stick and pushed away from them.

"I don't suppose we can escape this," Lando said hopefully.

"If it was one of the destroyers than maybe, but against that command ship forget it," said Luke shaking his head.

"I don't suppose you can fight them all off can you?" asked Lando. "The Jedi are supposed to be able to face insurmountable odds and come out on top."

"Not against _these_ odds," said Luke pulling out his lightsaber. "Although I could make it easy and get sucked out into space before any chance of torture."

"No, that's okay," said Lando quickly. "I'll just use my charm and get us out of this."

"I think I'll choose death," said Luke with a grin. His lightsaber shot out and stopped just in front of the glass surrounding the cockpit. Luke laughed at Lando's expression before he shut it off and headed for the living area as the ship was pulled up through the bay of the Super Star Destroyer.

"That's a hell of an arsenal," said Lando watching an image from a monitor inside the hold. AT-ATs, AT-STs, all sorts of Tie Fighters, some they'd never even seen before, and a host of other support vehicles arrayed the bay floor as personnel ran about servicing them.

"Enough to give the New Republic a run for its money," said Luke nodding. "Don't know why they'd want us though."

"They want the _Falcon_," said Lando. "They take it out in front of everyone and claim Han was in it and they've essentially demoralized the whole Republic when they blow it up."

"Makes sense," said Luke nodding as a thump was heard indicating the vessel was now on the deck.

"So let's hide in the smugglers compartments and wait them out," said Lando. "Then we'll do everything you did to escape the Death Star and we'll both come out of this alive and unscathed."

"Okay," said Luke unconvinced it would work a second time around. Lando ran over and popped open a compartment.

"Oh hell," said Luke looking down in it.

"Oh baby!" said Lando rubbing his hands together. The compartments were all loaded with spice.

"I'm rich!"

"We're screwed," said Luke. "Now where're we gonna hide?"

Then something happened that shocked them both.

"So how do we get whoever's in there, out of there?" asked Han. He and the others were standing amidst a phalanx of stormtroopers who had surrounded the ship.

"_How the times have changed_," thought Han remembering the last time he was in an Imperial bay onboard a moon sized battlestation with stomtroopers surrounding it.

"We go in guns blazing," said Daala checking a blaster rifle.

"I'd rather not have blaster marks tearing up the inside of my ship," said Han with Chewie nodding in agreement.

"Beggars can't be choosers," said Daala. "And besides, it's the Imperial way."

"But you said you're no longer the old Empire. You're the original Empire that relied on diplomacy not brute force."

"And here I'd hoped you'd forgotten," said Daala disappointed. "Sometimes the old ways are still the best ways."

"And if this was anyone else's ship I'd agree with you," said Han. "But it isn't."

"So what do you suggest we do flyboy?" Daala asked.

"Give me a megaphone and I'll order them out," said Han. Silence descended on the group before laughter broke out directed at Han. Eventually he too started laughing when he noticed the troopers shaking in their armor.

"It's better than nothing," said Han. Daala just shrugged as an R2 unit appeared with a megaphone.

"Thanks Depot," said Daala. "How're the upgrades on the Y-Wing going?"

Depot bleeped something.

"Good I won't be keeping you then," said Daala. Depot tootled before he rolled off across the bay towards the still mud stained Y-Wing, seemingly out of place amidst all the Ties.

"Good luck," said Daala handing him the device.

"Attention whoever is onboard my ship. This is Han Solo and I want her back! You have fifteen seconds to lower the boarding ramp and come out or we go in guns blazing!" shouted Han.

"What the hell?" said Luke and Han after hearing Han's speech.

"That was Han alright," said Luke.

"How? What's he doing onboard an SSD?" demanded Lando. "It must be a trick, voice modulation somehow!"

"No, he's out there alright," said Luke with his eyes closed. "He doesn't seem to be under any duress either."

"So I guess we have to go out there," said Lando.

"We'd better, the fifteen seconds is almost up," said Luke with a grin. Lando his the ramp release.

"You'd better be right about this," said Lando. Luke grinned.

"Look at it this way, if I'm wrong we won't have any time to worry about it," he said. Lando groaned.

"See, I told you it'd work," said Han as the ramp lowered.

"I'm shocked," said Daala not believing it. Kyp nodded in agreement as he stood there with Chewie and everyone else dumbfounded. That surprise would only be enforced moments later with:

"Han is that you?" said a voice. Han's jaw dropped at hearing that.

"Lando?" Han demanded. Lando Calrissian walked down the ramp with Luke.

"Great," said Daala throwing up her arms in defeat. "Here I have just about all the heroes of the New Republic together in one place and I'm unable to do anything about it! Damn my morales."

"What're you doing with my ship?" Han demanded walking up to them.

"What're you doing onboard an Imperial Super Star Destroyer?" Lando demanded as they clasped each other on the back grateful to see each other alive.

"Nice to see a happy reunion of the people who doomed my government," said Daala walking up to them.

"So this must be Daala's fleet," said Lando looking around the place. "And from the looks of things you're in cahoots with him. So where is this Daala person?"

"Yeah where is he?" asked Luke. Han, Chewie, and Kyp began laughing as Daala groaned.

"And who're you?" asked Lando to Daala turning on his charm..

"Can it Calrissian I'm Daala," said the Vice-Admiral.

"You're joking," said Lando. Daala pointed to her rank insignia.

"Nope," she said. "Now with any luck we should be at Coruscant in a few hours so I'd suggest you sit tight until then. Preferably on your own ship since it's here now."

"Yeah," said Han. "Listen, Aeryl thanks for everything."

"Just doing my job," said Daala leaving with her stormtroopers.

"So Han," said Lando. "How'd you meet her."

"Yeah," said Luke. "And who're these people?"

"It's a long story, one best told over a cup of caf," said Han leading them onto the ship.

Coruscant: "I'm sorry Leia," said Mon Mothma. "There's still no word from Luke, Lando, or Han and Chewie. If we haven't heard from them in another few days we'll send in a fleet to find out what happened to them."

"No," said Leia sadly. "We can't. If we send in a fleet it'll be a PR nightmare. I'll go, me diplomacy should be able to cut through Moruuth Doole. If not…I don't know."

Suddenly alarms began blaring all over the operations room.

"Ma'am, we've got Imperial signals emerging from hyperspace!" shouted a technician.

"Great, that's just what we need," said Garm Bel Iblis running around trying to get in touch with Admiral Ackbar who was currently with the fleet in orbit. The screens then showed the fifteen ship fleet greatly encompassed by the Super Star Destroyer and four other destroyers.

"Oh hell," said Bel Iblis sitting down in a chair defeated. "There's no time to raise the shield in time, they've got us right where they want us."

"Transmission coming in," said a person. The screens burst into static before resolving into a female Vice-Admiral.

"Hello New Republic government, I am Vice-Admiral Daala. I have been idly standing by and watching the Empire fall to your forces. Now the Empire is on the verge of collapse and I can't…won't let that happen. I am going to revive the Empire, but not with the blood of the innocent. Attacking the New Republic is not going to solve anything so I'm not even going to try. If anything having the New Republic on my back will hinder my efforts and I don't need it. As such, I ran across your heroes Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, and Lando Calrissian. I am returning them to you intact and unharmed with an olive branch of peace. Leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. One day the Empire will rise again but not through bloodshed. Until then I leave you in peace," said Daala. A single object departed the SSD and then the whole fleet was gone as if nothing had happened.

"Was that a dream?" asked Mon Mothma confused.

"More like a hallucination," said Leia.

"Single object detected, it's the Millenium Falcon and they're requesting permission to land," said a technician happily.

"By all means let them, we certainly have a lot to discuss," said Mon Mothma. They advanced to the pad where the Millenium Falcon was landing outside. The ramp lowered and Han ran out and embraced Leia.

"Han, thank goodness you're alive," said Leia with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, how exactly is that possible?" asked Bel Iblis. Han shrugged still holding Leia.

"The Empire saved me," said Han. He laughed when he saw everyone's look at that statement.

"It's true," said Luke nodding. "Strange but true."

"Yes but she's going to revive the Empire!" shouted Bel Iblis. "We can't let that happen!"

"Let it go," said Kyp surprising everyone. "She may be the future of the Empire, but it may bring about the peace missing for so long in this galaxy."

"And I for one wish her luck," said Han. "Good luck, Vice-Admiral Daala."

Gorgon: The fleet roared through hyperspace to parts unknown.

"We've got a big task ahead of us," said Jjiim.

"Yes, but we must succeed for the sake of the galaxy. The Empire needs to be united and at peace with the New Republic in the event of an invasion," said Daala preparing to leave.

"Invasion by whom?" asked Krandall confused.

"You never know," said Daala as she left the bridge. She walked to her office and shut the door, locking it. She then went past her desk to her personal safe and went through several security measures from fingerprints to retina scans before the safe opened revealing a briefcase. Daala pressed her thumbs against the thing before twisting the locks to pop it open. Inside was a single dossier that Daala picked up and rifled through again.

"_We must succeed_," she thought determined to succeed. The dossier read: _Classified: Yuuzhan Vong Intelligence from Deep Space Probes_.

The end…for now.


End file.
